HEAT OF THE MOMENT

Climate scientists: Tax meat to cut methane emissions

'Unlikely that a large-scale dietary change will happen voluntarily without incentives'

Published: 12/22/2013 at 1:05 AM

(Grist) Meat should be taxed to encourage people to eat less of it, thus reducing the production of global warming gases from sheep, cattle, and goats, according to a group of scientists.

Several high-profile figures, from the chief of the U.N.’s climate science panel to the economist Lord Stern, have previously advocated eating less meat to tackle global warming.

The scientists’ analysis, published in the journal Nature Climate Change, takes the contentious step of suggesting methane emissions be cut by pushing up the price of meat through a tax or emissions trading scheme.